1/13/2024
Happy New Year thirteen days later. I hope everyone had a great and enjoyable holiday season.
When your blog is primarily about bees, it’s hard to find something to write about this time of year. The bees are hopefully safely holed up in their hive, especially today when the overnight low is forecast to be -11 F.
But then I think about the larger community and the people I have met online and in person. One person that comes to mind is a someone down in south Missouri who goes by the handle of Curly-Haired Country Gal. She started keeping bees just a few months before I did and her YouTube channel is filled with her successes and failures in beekeeping and other assorted projects. Pretty brutal on herself sometime, but very genuine.
The next person is my friend Brian from the Fulton area. He is a Navy veteran who started his time in service just before mine. He spent all last year learning about beekeeping through the Heroes to Hives program. This is a great program for veteran’s that teaches the fundamentals of beekeeping.
Last year, at a holiday meal at the Herbert Williams American Legion Post 202 in Columbia we started talking about beekeeping and he said that he was seriously considering using horizontal hives like we built. I said that I would be more than happy to help, especially since the plans for the hives take a little time to get used to. I sent him a bunch of links, as well as one to this blog.
In early December (I think), Brian brought over the plywood he had purchased at La Cross Lumber in Fulton. They had at least helped him cut the 4×8 sheets into the horizontal sizes needed for the plans.
While he was here, I showed him the apiary, a swarm trap, and other assorted items. I could tell he was a little excited. We spent the rest of the day cutting the plywood into the various parts needed to build the hives. Regretfully, I don’t have any pictures of us working that day. Linda was spending the day with a friend.
Anyway, the Thursday after Christmas Brian sends a text and wants to know that if today would be a good day to work on boxes. I told him absolutely.
He came well organized. In preparation to come over, he had cut out the parts of the hive that were made out of a 2×4 and bundled them up.
I wish I was half that organized.
Linda asked him how many hives he was planning on getting done today. He said all three. And the bar was set.
It was great working with Brian. He is a very skilled wood worker. I almost forget to mention that he had actual wool to insulate the hives.
The assembly went well, except for a few small glitches, so we were able to get a lot done in a short period of time.
Here are a few pictures from that day…
One hive was finished before lunch and we did the second one that afternoon. We finished up around 6:00 with two hives ready to take home. That was a huge accomplishment.
Hopefully, in the next week or so, after it warms up a bit, we can assemble the third one.
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